Trail Of Dead Launches Imprint With UniversalRock outfit …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead is launching its own label, Richter Scale Records, in association with Universal Music Group’s Justice Records.

The band’s next album is due in January 2009 and was co-produced by longtime collaborator Mike McCarthy and Chris “Frenchie” Smith. According to a spokesperson, Trail Of Dead was intent “on creating a more anthemic record” this time around.

Footage from the recording sessions can be found on Trail Of Dead’s Web site.

The band left Interscope following its third album for the label, 2006’s “So Divided,” which has sold just 26,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Trail Of Dead’s 2002 label debut, “Source Tags & Codes,” has shifted 124,000.

Early in its career, the band recorded for Trance Syndicate and Merge, and according to frontman Conrad Keely, the move back to an indie will allow Trail OF Dead “to seek the creative freedom envisioned by the founding fathers of our great nation, immune from the tyranny of the corporate ogre.”(Via Billboard)